“To take up the cross does not mean making some particular sacrifice, nor does it refer to some particular burden ("My husband is my cross"). Anyone in that day, reading those words, would know plainly that taking up the cross meant one and only one thing: putting to death an infamous criminal. Jesus, therefore, is saying, "You must treat yourself, with all your sinful ways, priorities, and desires, like a criminal, and put self to death every day." That says something about the self-image that Christ expects us to have!”